In today's episode of Supply Chain Now, we present an incisive exploration of the current landscape within the global supply chain sector, focusing particularly on the essential role of leadership in navigating prevailing challenges. Welcome to The Buzz, powered by EasyPost!

Today, hosts Scott Luton and Tandreia Bellamy welcome special guest Marina Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive, to discuss the Women in Supply Chain Awards and the upcoming Women in Supply Chain Forum. Listen as they cover:

• The rising demand for foreign trade zone access
• The state of the industry report by Colliers
• Insights from chief people officers on talent strategies
• The 2025 Women in Supply Chain Awards and the upcoming Women in Supply Chain Forum
• The importance of communication, strategic thinking, and inclusivity in navigating the complexities of the supply chain industry

Join us as we collectively seek to understand the implications of these developments on future supply chain operations.

Additional Links & Resources:

• With That Said: https://bit.ly/WTS-7SEP2025 
• Colliers State of Industry Report: https://bit.ly/ColliersStateoftheIndustryReport
• Chief People Officers Outlook 2025: Talent strategy amid global disruption: https://bit.ly/CPOviews
• U.S. Foreign Trade Zones Draw New Demand as De Minimis Ends: https://on.wsj.com/4nrwm53
• Why AI Is the Conversation at Parcel Forum: http://bit.ly/4m7Q8kT
• Connect with Marina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinamayer/
• Learn more about EasyPost: https://supplychainnow.com/easypost
• Check out the U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index: bit.ly/scn-us-bank
• Learn more about Supply Chain Now: https://supplychainnow.com
• Watch and listen to more Supply Chain Now episodes here: https://supplychainnow.com/program/supply-chain-now
• Subscribe to Supply Chain Now on your favorite platform: https://supplychainnow.com/join
• Work with us! Download Supply Chain Now’s NEW Media Kit: https://bit.ly/3XH6OVk
• WEBINAR- Real stories: Fast-tracking value, a pioneering digital transformation with impactful results.: https://bit.ly/4mgp1EW
• WEBINAR- Real Shipping Stories. Real Money Saved.: https://bit.ly/45PegUm
• WEBINAR- From Compliance to Impact and Competitive Advantage: How to Decarbonize Your Supply Chain: https://bit.ly/47uXKKo
• WEBINAR- The Power of Partnership: Building Long-Term Success with Automation Integrators: https://bit.ly/3Ie1WUO
• WEBINAR- Reengineering supply chain planning: How to get more bang for your buck in 2026- https://bit.ly/3VahMCQ

This episode is hosted by Scott Luton and Tandreia Bellamy and produced by Trisha Cordes, Joshua Miranda, and Amanda Luton. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/buzz-women-in-supply-chain-awards-1479

Welcome to Supply Chain now the number one voice of supply chain.

Join us as we share critical news, key insights and real supply chain leadership.

From across the globe.

One conversation at a time.

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you may be.

Scott Luton and Tandra Bellamy here with you on Supply Chain now.

Welcome to today's live stream.

Tandria, how you doing today?

I'm great and thank you for having me as well to be a very intriguing show.

I'm with you.

We got a jam packed show today.

We got two incredible dynamos, supply chain powerhouses and Tandria and a special guest.

And folks, you know it's the Buzz where Every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time we discuss a variety of news and developments across global supply chain and business news that matters is what we like to call it.

And hey, the Buzz is powered by our friends at easypost who helps make shipping easy, flexible and scalable.

Learn how you can simplify your shipping operations and delight your customers@easypost.com.

so Tandra, got a great show here teed up today.

We're going to get a supply chain leadership pulse check in along those lines, we're going to be exploring an interesting report on the state of the industry that's going to offer a few intriguing takeaways.

What do chief people officers see for the rest of the year?

We're going to be exploring that and we're going to be taking a look at the rising demand for foreign trade zone access.

That probably doesn't surprise anyone though, right?

All that and much, much more.

And as I mentioned, Tandrea, in about 10 minutes or so we're welcoming in a special guest, Marina Mayer with food, logistics and supply and demand chain executive and a whole bunch more.

We're looking forward to hearing Marina's insights here today.

Tandrea jam packed show.

I'm not sure if we can fit anything else in.

You ready to go?

Absolutely.

You're always ready, Tandra.

You're always ready.

So folks, stay tuned for a great show.

Hey, two things before we get going.

Number one, give us your take in the comments.

Whether you're tuned in via LinkedIn, YouTube X, Facebook, Twitch, no matter.

Let us know what you think.

And if you enjoy the show today, we'd love for you to share it with a friend and or your network.

They'll be glad you did.

Okay, so before we bring on a very special guest here on the Buzz, powered by easypost, I want to hit three items on the front end.

Tandrea.

Okay, three items.

First up, I want to share Our latest edition of with that said dropped over the weekend as it normally does.

It's our almost weekly newsletter.

Almost gives us a little bit of flexibility, Tandria, for those tougher weekends for pool of kid logistics, if you know what I mean.

In this edition we started with a variety of news.

So stay with me for a second here.

Lots of moving pieces.

We touched on how the ISM manufacturing PMI shows continued contraction in the US manufacturing sector for the six month in a row.

In fact, some manufacturing executives are saying the economy is quote much worse than the Great Recession.

End quote.

Yikes.

Recently released data on the US labor market.

Well, it's not too kind.

Only 22 non farm jobs were added by employers in August.

Analysts where they expected 80,000.

All that and much, much more.

Events in Vegas, events online events in Chicago and live shows and other resources to check out.

With that said.

So Tandria, did you happen to take a look at what that said over the weekend?

I did, I did.

Okay.

And I stood out to you.

I saw the contraction, the recession, the increased costs, the lack of job creation.

But you know what?

I went to, I went to the education because all of those things we can't control individually.

But staying current, understanding what's available from a technology standpoint, celebrating others.

I mean I love that the supply chain gals, first of all, I love that as supply chain gals that they're hosting a grad school workshop.

That's right, yeah.

So that we can work on ensuring that there's some resilience for our future leaders.

I love that you highlighted the parcel forum, the number one package fulfillment event.

I love that you highlighted supply chain tech and that that conference has a virtual component.

So if you can't make it there, that's coming up pretty quickly.

You can always log in to stay current in light of everything else that was discussed.

From an actual news standpoint, let's focus on what we can do to make sure we're prepared regardless of what happens.

Tand, well said.

Hear hear.

Round of applause.

I love that.

And plus that's some really constructive advice for folks out there because it's easy to get bogged down and all the news and the headlines and, and folks, you got to get to the rest of the story, number one.

And number two, as Tindria is saying, we got to focus in on what we can control.

Right.

So we can find success for our organizations and our teams.

Right.

It's a lot of anxiety out there.

We Got to stick to what we can control.

All right, Excellent stuff folks.

Go check out.

With that said, Tricia's making it really easy.

She drops the link right here.

You're one click away from checking it out.

And looks like we've got some of the friends here.

Alan's back.

Alan Jacques, the Rodney Dangerfield of global supply chain.

Alan, great to see you as always.

Susan's back with us tuned in from Orlando via LinkedIn.

Great to see you, Susan.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts, you and Alan's thoughts here today.

And I think this is Amanda says, I love that Tangeria.

When news feels overwhelming, focus on the things you can control.

That's right.

That is right.

Okay, speaking of things we gotta control, we gotta move right along in Tandria.

We're going back to the fountain again.

You've spent decades in industry as a supply chain leader and I want to use that to conduct a supply chain leadership pulse check.

Tan this is a little segment we've been doing now for a couple of months.

So Tandrea, we met we think about 10 years ago while you were still at part enjoying a hall of fame career with a big time shipper, thereby knows big global brand.

But since then you're still advising, consulting and coaching some of the innovators in this space.

So that all that begs the question what is a one of the top priorities right now for supply chain leaders looking to find calm amidst all the.

Current chaos, having systemic ways of really doing analysis, whether it's your predictive analysis or whether it's sensitivity analysis, you know, playing out different what if scenarios or post decision analysis that we follow the correct course of action and if not, how do we self correct?

There's so much going on.

As you've already mentioned, the world is so incredibly dynamic that you really cannot live in an analog world in this digital society.

You have to have ways to really truthfully analyze what is happening and to prepare for changes.

Staying current with technologies, whether it's automation, AI or what have you.

But then having a real systemic, clean data way of analyzing what's happening is extremely important.

Well said Tandra.

Well said.

And you know, as we heard again for the May time last Friday, as we had an incredible leader, Rosemary with Snowflake join us.

She is a trailblazer when it comes to data and AI and machine learning, all that good stuff.

She encouraged all of us.

I know everyone is being attracted to AI for good reason.

But starting as you suggested Tandra, with the data, it's amazing what by focusing in on the wealth of data we have at our fingertips these days, what can be done with just better data alone and then layering on some outstanding artificial intelligence and other things.

So good stuff.

You know, you really do have to make sure you understand foundationally what's going on outside of AI because there's been many, many, many articles that if you feed it bad information, it is absolutely going to give you a bad outcome.

So understanding your, understanding your business so that you can make sure that your data makes sense before you start to lay on those layers of automation is extremely important.

Well said, Tandri.

And folks, I know you heard me share this before, but if you're not just playing around with like a chat GPT, the free or even the inexpensive subscriber option and just getting a sense of what you can, what answers you pose or prompts you make it and kind of see what you get back.

I'm telling you, there's no time like the present.

And I'll be the first to tell you, I'm not a AAA technologist, but I've learned so much just doing some experimentation on the evenings and weekends with what's all in the art of the possible.

It's very approachable.

Good stuff.

And as I think this is Amanda, Tricia, big thanks to you both behind the scenes, you're on fire today.

Tanria, they loved your quote.

You can't live in the analog world in this digital society.

I love that too.

First T shirt ism of the day.

All right, so Tandria, I got one more thing I want to share before we bring on a wonderful guest here today that folks are going to enjoy learning from.

And that is, hey folks, y' all know we love resources, especially bring them to you right here on the Buzz.

Powered by Easy Post.

Want to share?

Great resource from our friends at US Bank.

So just over about a month ago.

And after 11 straight quarters of shipment and spend volume decreases, the Q2 numbers ticked up slightly.

Hey, that's a little bit of good news maybe.

We reviewed the index on August 6th with US banks Bobby Holland and Bob Costello, who serves as chief economist at the American Trucking Associations.

And in summing up that rich conversation, I'd say that it's probably too soon to tell if the volume increases are a sign of the market rebound or the result of tariff volatility.

If you're planning on attending Parcel Forum this week In Chicago, the U.S. bank team will be in booth 109.

Booth 109.

So please stop in and say hello and you can learn more about.

They can help manage your supply chain very successfully.

And folks, make sure you sign up for the free Freight payment Index.

We're dropping a link right there.

Chandra.

How did I know?

How did.

I just was positive that Trisha was dropping that link so everyone could be just one click away.

Always been on the same team and you're on one accord.

She's got it.

Oh, she does.

Always.

Okay.

So speaking of movers and shakers in industry, we've got a terrific guest joining Tandri and I here today doing big things out in the industry.

So Marina Mayer has been a thought leader in the global supply chain space for a long time.

She serves as editor in chief of food logistics and supply and demand chain executive.

Marina is also co founder of the Women in Supply Chain Forum in their fourth year now and she's creator of the Women in Supply Chain award.

And we're going to touch on both of those in just a minute.

She also serves as director of content at Iron Markets.

Please join me in welcoming Marina Mayer.

Hey.

Hey, Marina.

How you doing?

Hi.

Good.

Thank you so much for having me today.

Great to see you, Tandra.

We've been looking forward to today's conversation for a little while, right?

Absolutely.

Hello Marina.

Nice to see you again.

And can I just, before we get to the fun one question, can I just put this out there?

Because the first time I heard it in the green room here today in the pre show.

So you got Naperville in the Chicagoland area, but you all have a nickname for that, Marina, what is that?

Neighbor Thrill.

And that's mainly a shout out to the incredible nightlife there, is that right?

That's correct.

Love that little nugget.

Okay, so let's get to the fun of the official fun warm up question.

It's, it's a variety of days here.

Let's see here, it's National Bost Employee Exchange Day.

Need to lean into those conversations.

Exchange the boss.

Yeah, maybe.

So that would be the day of the year maybe in some cases.

Let's see here it is Star Trek day.

But here's where I'm going to finish.

It is International Literacy Day.

So on that last one, International Literacy Day, I want to ask you both, starting with you, Marina, what's been one of your favorite All Time Reads or one of your favorite recent reads.

So I don't remember the exact title of it, but my favorite kind of a read is Murder Mysteries and my favorite author is Michael Connelly.

So the reason I don't remember it is because sometimes I go back and I reread his series and you have to read it in order.

And so he's my all time favorite.

I love that.

Cause sometimes the best things don't come in sequential order.

Right, Marina?

Right.

And sometimes I go back to reread it because things happen in the other book that I'm like, wait a minute, I remember they talked about it.

So it's the only series I will go back and reread.

I love that and I love the universes that some authors create.

It's fascinating to make the connections between all the characters or stories or issues.

Tanjira, that's gonna be a tough one to beat.

What's one of your favorite recent or all time reads?

I'm gonna give you both.

My favorite all time is Maya Angelou, I Know why the Caged Bird Sings.

And my favorite recent is Uncommon Favor by Don Staley because they're both stories of overcoming and resilience.

And then they both became just incredible women leaders and examples.

Those are my two that come to mind.

I love that.

Those are incredible.

All these are great selections.

But Tandria, of course, Dawn Staley, for some of our non sports followers out there, she has been the incredible future hall of Fame coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks, who have been on an incredible run in basketball for years.

Right, Tandra?

Absolutely.

And one of the things that I really love is all of her faculty, former players, still talk about her and the role she played in their lives and what a great leader she was and how they still lean on her for advice.

So it just showed.

Not only is she an incredible coach, but just an incredible person, an incredible leader.

I love it.

Okay, we need a book club here at Supply Chain now y' all might these I'm in.

These might be the first couple of recommendations.

Let's see here.

Susan is also a big fan of Michael Connolly and reads his books as well.

Let's see.

I think this is Amanda.

The Women by Kristen Hannah is my favorite recent read about women nurses in Vietnam.

Wow.

I should also say see him.

Great to see you.

Listening, walking, getting stuff done.

Gsd, great to see you.

And Raja Shakar via India along LinkedIn.

Let us know your favorite read recent or all time.

I gotta add this one before we get going this is the fearless front line.

And this is Ray Tia, who I worked for back in the day.

And it centers on this model to run, improve, grow.

And you know, it's a very universal concept that I bet everyone can relate to because sometimes in certain chapters of our life we get stuck in a hundred percent run mode.

And when you do that just getting stuff done, you can't pay attention to getting better and certainly to strategically growing and finding those opportunities.

So.

And that's at all levels, right?

The ratios may change from the CEO to the front line, all points in between.

But it's a great read, packed with practical takeaways.

Ray, if you're tuned in, I'd love to get a comment of where folks can find it.

Marina and Tandria, we got so much to get to here today and I'm going to start with and put this book aside so I can get to the next great read from someone that y' all might be familiar with.

I want to start with this read via Food Logistics from none other than Marina Mayer.

How about that?

So check this out.

This focuses on the State of the industry report which is produced by the Flying Colliers team.

Y' all might recognize them from industrial real estate.

And in particular, Marina focuses on five top trends as cited by the report.

Marina, I'm going to talk about you as if you're not here.

That's kind of weird with me.

The five big trends, events, developments that Marina points out.

You can learn more about it by clicking on the link.

Is global trade tariffs go into effect.

Tariff reclassifications may be an important cost avoidance strategy.

So right.

With any bad news come opportunities.

Number three, industrial real estate vacancy rates in the US what climbs to a 12 year high about that?

As we mentioned earlier, that labor market, well, it continues to cool.

And this fifth one is an intriguing one.

Look forward to seeing this thing continue to evolve and it deals with the big proposed merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern.

Oh my, my, my.

Where do we begin?

So Marina, your thoughts on any of those top five takeaways?

Well, I do like how you kind of paraphrased or reworded the tariff reclassification part of it because with bad news does come good news and it kind of goes back to, you know, kind of what we talked about offline.

You can't measure and move forward with what you don't monitor.

And if you monitor certain things such as the tariff and how it impacts certain parts of your company, how it impacts your customers, you're never going to fully understand the impact.

And so for a lot of these companies that don't have those strategies in place, they're already behind the ball because they need to figure out how to resource things.

They need to figure out how to work better with their current vendors.

And if their current vendors aren't willing to change how they operate, then they need to find new vendors.

So that's an important one.

But also I wanted to touch on the job rate thing because I think it's interesting because it depends on who you talk to because some people think that the job market is awful.

Nobody is hiring, everybody's on a freeze, nobody is giving any amount of positions available.

AI is taking over the world.

And then there's other companies that really want to hire and they're creating roles that never existed before just so that they can get a human body into their office and take care of some business that AI can't do.

So I think it's an interesting topic because I think it does depend on who you talk to.

The job market is good or bad, it's both.

It changes every day.

But I think it's something to kind of keep an eye on because there are jobs out there.

You just have to know people, you have to be creative and you have to really want the job.

Yes.

And Marina, in addition to all those great things you shared, we got to keep a positive mindset.

If you're in the market or if you're looking to make a change or you're graduating college and getting ready for that first job.

If you subscribe to the belief that there's no opportunity out there, you're not going to find nearly what you could is if you put on that positive mindset and go out there and connect and, and lean into it.

Good stuff there.

Marina Tandria, what would you add from this article written by Marina Mayer that is focused on the state of the industry report?

I am really interested in the merger with the reliance that UPS had on trains and my 30 plus years of being there, seeing how that's going to work.

What are the synergies going to be?

How are efficiencies going to improve?

What are there going to be new lanes that are new routings that help to reduce transit times?

What are additional flexibilities?

I mean, that one is going to be a very interesting one to monitor for the potential impact that it can have on the supply chain.

And they're projecting, last I read about it, the approval could take up to two years.

So I think they first announced the merger probably a couple of months ago.

So we've got a little ways maybe to wait to see how the regulators, which I always, whenever I say regulators, it takes me straight back to Warren G. It just does.

I'm a Gen X.

What can I say?

But we'll see the questions they have and if they allow it to come to fruition.

Marina, it should be an intriguing railroad topic whether you're in the railroading or not, huh?

No, and I agree and I think Tantria touched on some good points there because it does impact a lot of people in the industry.

But I don't look at it as necessarily a bad thing.

Everybody thinks merger, they think the worst.

They think, oh, they're cutting jobs, they're rerouting this, they're closing this.

I don't always look at it like that.

I think there are opportunities here when you take two very successful companies and you put them together to create kind of the power in numbers situation.

So I don't think it's a bad thing.

I think people just need to kind of, you know, maybe stop to understand what this means for themselves, their companies and how they operate and move move supplies through the supply chain.

That is right.

I wonder when it happens, if it does, if they're going to have a grand golden a moment like they had back in the day at Utah somewhere.

We'll see.

We're going to keep our finger on the pulse.

Good stuff there.

So folks, with all of these articles that we're shedding observations on, you can find a link right there in the chat.

Click on it, get the full story and give us your feedback on your thoughts as well.

Let's see, Susan's also sharing we're going to have a Book of the Month club, folks.

We are Susan is sharing thinking this is her favorite Kristin Hannah book called the Great Alone.

So maybe add Kristen Hannah on your to read list.

Rather good stuff there, Susan.

Okay, we're going to go back to something we've just to on a second ago and that is talent, one of the most important elements to global supply chain or any aspect of global business.

Well, we're going to take a look at talent from the perspective of those charged with building talent strategies to optimize attraction, development and retention.

Although it's probably not just a three legged stool these days, it's probably like a 27 legged stool, I imagine.

The World Economic Forum published a recent piece that focuses on what chief people officers are observing and predicting through the rest of the year.

Now there's a lot here and we're dropping a link to the full article.

So go check it out.

I'm going to share a couple of my key takeaways and I can't wait to hear Marina's and Tangeries as well.

So up first, CPOs seem to align on three top disruptive forces, reshaping business and talent strategies, AI adoption, talent scarcity and evolving worker expectations.

Now on the AI adoption issue specifically, get this, CPO's top three concerns when it comes to AI adoption employees not adapting or learning quickly enough.

And then this is an interesting counterpoint.

Maybe career stagnation and skills loss due to over reliance on AI.

Those are interesting one and two and then thirdly, ethical and data privacy issues.

Now when it comes to the Skill sets that CPO's rank at the top of their list in terms of success factors, business acumen and strategic thinking.

In fact, 100% of all CPOs surveyed for this story had both of those two skill sets, attributes, traits, whatever in their top three success factors.

One last note.

The importance of the chief people officer's role in global business certainly is being elevated and some would suggest I would be amongst them for sure.

It should have always been that way.

So Marina, there's a lot more to this read but your thoughts on this article from World Economic Forum.

I think the most interesting thing of the entire article is the very first bullet point that talks about how chief people officers are pausing their hiring and the restructuring.

And the reason it's interesting is because they're pausing it.

But then they're curious as to why people are not getting jobs.

And so therefore they have to lean on AI.

It's like the cart before the horse.

It's the whole cycle domino effect.

And it's funny to me because the supply chain industry, I mean this happened after Covid.

You know, they would find companies would find a resolution and they'd be all in.

They don't understand it.

You know, they don't know the nuances of how it operates, but they know, you know, grocery stores, they know they have to now do last mile delivery.

They know they now have to do drive up.

They just have to figure it out and they have to do it fast.

And I think that it's just how supply chain operates.

And so now with AI, everybody's like oh, I got to jump on that bandwagon.

I got to do it without understanding what it does or how it works or why you don't need to do AI for your entire operation, why you still need people, human bodies monitoring the AI, monitoring your other technologies I certainly wouldn't want AI doing my taxes, I mean, unless it was giving me a lot of money back.

But I mean, it's things like that that you have to think you still need a human element to pretty much every aspect of your company.

I understand automation and robotics to some degree, but you still need that final lifeline at the end that says, okay, I checked it, it's good.

And that first bullet point just throws me because it's like, well, if you're pausing hiring, then why do you think that it's necessary to be all in for AI and then not have people available?

It's kind of like it just doesn't make sense to me.

But again, it goes back to what we said earlier.

Depends on who you talk to.

Some people are hiring, some people are not.

I'm with you.

And they were kind of along those lines.

There was a couple of conundrums kind of in the research throughout, which, you know, I think, I think that's great to see because if, if all the data comes back in perfect alignment, something tells me we're just kind of pencil whipping the responses, perhaps.

Tandra, your thoughts on this read from the World Economic Forum and the CPO thoughts.

The one that, and I won't say stood out, but I think the one that struck a chord the most was worker expectations.

Because to me it's a widening divide between the upper management teams and the people who are actually doing the work.

And worker expectations get out of alignment when there is a lack of communication.

If the decision makers and the people who are actually doing the work aren't in alignment, don't communicate honestly and regularly, then you do have that worker expectation that it ends up with a dissatisfied workforce, which leads to additional turnover, or in times of job erosion, you end up having disgruntled employees that stay, which is almost worse than turnover.

There's so much.

I think Marina said we could talk about this for three hours between yalls to comment, your comments, perspective and the research itself, I think we could.

But that also goes to the point of whether it's a CPO's view on talent or anyone else's view on talent.

Talent is just such an intriguing big old topic to talk about in this golden age of supply chain tech, especially with how AI is evolving so fast.

So I would just add one more conundrum going back to the research, how CPOs identified their top concerns as it relates to AI adoption.

And it kind of points to, you got to learn how to leverage AI in your job, right?

But to really both Yalls point, there's a risk of over relying on it.

And I'll tell you all if you don't.

To the folks out there, and I'm I'm preaching to the choir.

If you're not familiar with hallucination yet, AI hallucination, you got to be experimenting with it because AI will be convinced what it is telling you is the gospel truth.

It has no context or no basis.

So folks, check it out.

Marina Scott when you know the chief people officer said business acumen and strategic thinking, I think that also really points to the need for industry to be more involved.

In both high schools and colleges, there's no classes on true business acumen and strategic thinking that's industry specific.

So those foundational concepts have to get built in from, I mean early on because with so much reliance on not just AI, but a kid can Google anything and so much focus on standardized testing, we're almost educating kids out of strategic thinking.

And so to get that back, to get that in alignment, we're going to need industry leaders to get more involved in the educational process.

1000% Tandrea and it's so interesting.

Mary, I'll give you the last comment here.

It's so interesting because technology is amazing.

It's changed our lives, right?

And it continues to do so almost by the hour.

However, to Tandria's point, that doesn't mean we can take off our thinking cap, especially our strategic thinking cap, and just set it aside and press the easy button on all things AI.

Marina, your last thought here before we move on to the next topic.

And it got me thinking to the part of the article that talks about company culture.

And no amount of technology can ever replace or try to replace company culture.

Company culture is a human being aspect to your company and even the most introverted employee needs connection with another human being.

Live or virtually, it doesn't matter.

You still need that connection.

I will never give that.

And I think there's something to be said for that.

And so for the chief chief people officers out there, keep that in mind.

We're all in a remote age.

Whether we like it or not.

There are people who just really cannot work remote or virtually.

They're just not made up to be like that.

So you need to kind of figure out how to better speak to them and cater to that.

AI is not going to be the resolution they can't just sit there and talk to AI all day.

So I think that's an important takeaway from that article.

Completely agree.

AI really doesn't care about you yet.

Now when it does, there's a whole different conversation to be had, right?

But as I've said a few weeks back, until AI can go out and meet with your suppliers or your customers and brainstorm new opportunities or innovations or problem solve over a chicken sandwich that's uniquely human and building that rapport and that trust, especially face to face, but also virtually uniquely human.

But good stuff.

Yeah.

T Squared who holds down the fort Force on YouTube said AI isn't and will never be a replacement for live and direct critical thinking.

Well said.

Okay, we got so much more to get to and we're only halfway through the buzz here.

Powered by our friends at easypost.

Let's hit this story real quick.

This is an interesting one.

Given all the tariff and trade turmoil and of course massive amounts of uncertainty along with the end of de minimis, it shouldn't surprise too many folks that demand for access to US foreign trade zones have increased dramatically.

So now Marina and Tangeria we've got the smartest audience in all of global supply chain.

Imagine this right after duties on imports were raised.

They allow for businesses to store goods within the FTZ and defer duties until they sell the items.

All of that allows for easier digestion of tariffs.

Now FTZ is also allow for companies to import inputs and say that seven times fast import input in order to make stuff and then only pay a single levy on the final manufactured good.

And that tariff rate is typically locked in on the day the goods officially enter the foreign trade zone.

I never would have thought that locked in would be such a wonderful phrase to hear.

But all of this offers up financial flexibility and logistical simplicity amongst other things.

One other thing to note as FTZs and bonded warehouses have some similarities.

One key difference as pointed out in the article by Shipbob COO, I think it's DV Gladi and my apologies if I got that wrong.

But anyway you can store goods in FTZ indefinitely, but in a bonded warehouse you have a five year limitation on the deferred tariffs.

One last point here.

Shipbob is seeing a lot of FTZ interest across the board, but shippers in the apparel and Beauty industries are where they're seeing the most demand.

So Marina, ftz, your thoughts, what we're.

Seeing here, my first thought, and this is kind of bad to think this, but my first thought is when will that become part of a discussion point for the government to start to tax and impose some tariff related costs to it knowing that that is that loophole that exists.

The loophole is great.

I'm glad that companies are taking advantage of it.

You know, it is designed to do exactly what it's doing right now.

But my first thought is, well, how long will that last?

How long will that last?

That is a great call out.

Tandria, your thoughts on foreign trade zones and the increase in interest.

I fully understand why there's an increase in interest.

Uncertainty is driving a lot of our economic downturn right now.

That's a small piece of certainty.

They're very difficult to establish.

So while interest is rising and I'm sure it will actually getting them set up, especially if you're going to be a new ftz, there are restrictions geographically and there is a lot of regulation that surrounds it.

Knowing how to size them is, is another exercise that's tough, especially when goods can be held indefinitely.

There's a lot to unpack with them, whereas there are a lot of benefits.

Just trying to get a new one established takes quite a bit time, energy, effort and knowledge because doing them improperly has some legal ramifications.

That has been there done that perspective.

I love that.

Folks, we're dropping a link to the article the great read.

If you're not reading the logistics report over on the Wall Street Journal, you're really missing out.

So check that out.

Thank you, Tricia.

And T Squared is on fire.

Also today says the Rudy's, which is a reference to the Jetsons, that big supercomputer Rudy's are only your friend when you train them to be such.

That's right.

Good stuff there, T Squared.

Okay, there's a big event this week.

Parcel form is taking place.

So folks, from our friends here at easypost, if you're heading to Parcel forum this week, be sure to also stop by booth 515 and meet Lori, Tom and the Easypost team.

They're giving away prizes, sharing best practices, especially making AI easier and more approachable and a whole bunch more.

You may also want to check out.

Look, I've seen Lori and Tom both in action.

They're outstanding storytellers and content that matters is what I put Them in the category of they're speaking on the topic of no hype, just how making AI work for your logistics team.

You can learn more on the link we're dropping right there in the chat.

So speaking of people out there doing great things, moving mountains, Marina, I want to dial it in on some of the cool up to and I want to start with the Women in Supply Chain Awards, which has been in all the news this week and really for weeks for that matter.

So tell us about the program first and then we'll get to the winners.

Sure.

And so that's what I did.

And it was kind of an award that I've been trying to introduce from a media standpoint for some time.

I just needed to get to the right outlet who believed in it and believed in me.

We launched it.

It's nomination based.

People can nominate themselves, they can nominate their co workers, their bosses.

When we opened up nominations, year one, we only had about, I would say 60 to 70 submissions.

And now in its fifth year, we are close to over 400 submissions.

So we're very excited.

It's grown.

It is, is a way to kind of celebrate the achievements that female logistics leaders do, their accomplishments.

It's not meant to be anything more than just bridge that gap between, you know, the men and the women supporting each other in the supply chain space.

Well said and congrats all the growth.

Clearly it's resonating with the market.

And Tandra, I think I heard a, an amen coming on your perspective there.

What'd you hear there in this great program?

I love it from the standpoint of celebrating women, but I love it from the standpoint of attracting younger women to the industry to show the successes of women, to show that women are appreciated, to get exposure on women leaders.

And what women bring to the table I think is phenomenal.

So thank you, Marina.

Thank you.

I love that.

And the winners just announced today, this morning.

So we're very excited about that.

So if you're on LinkedIn, you probably see a lot of the posts congratulating each other, congratulating themselves.

I'm just very excited for all of these women.

So perfect timing, newsmakers right here on the Buzz powered by Easy Post Submarine.

And what a phenomenal networking opportunity.

That's right.

Absolutely.

I mean, I love it and I get a lot of women who come to Me, they're very nervous to nominate themselves.

I think the first year that I opened it, nobody nominated themselves, and I have to sit back and recalculate it.

But we're close to, I would say, 50 women.

50 of those submissions are from women who have submitted it for themselves.

And I think that's such a testament to how we are in the supply chain space.

Everybody talks about, you know, how they just don't feel comfortable doing it.

They feel like they're bragging.

They feel like they're, you know, all these things, and it's.

It's the imposter syndrome.

And it's like, no, you are the only person who knows what you do day in and day out, truly.

So you are your only voice for that.

So ideally, that's why I created it, hoping that that would resonate.

But like you said, for networking purposes, I mean, it's great because you are representing your company and the initiatives that they are pushing.

And so what better way to bring more people into the DO than an initiative that supports women in supply chain?

Wow.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

And going back to what you said kind of in the beginning of your response, folks, you are your own.

No matter what walk of life you're in, one thing doesn't change.

You are your best advocate, whether it comes to awards or jobs or other things.

And we got to lean into that.

That reality and wear that hat.

All right, so let's do this.

Winners were just announced today, and, yes, it had been flooding my social feed.

Lots of excitement.

You know, it's kind of like thanking people.

Once you start thanking people by name, you always leave somebody off.

So I don't want to put you on the spot, Marina, but I do want to call out one winner that I interacted with back before it was announced as a winner, and that's Mary Casio, I think is her last name.

Yeah, she's one of our overall winners.

How about that?

That's with the Palette Alliance.

Now, that's a real special one for me because in our earliest chapter here at Supply Chain now, we had the late Tyson Steffens, who was a leader with the Pallet alliance, and we had a ton of fun informing, educating our audience members on some really, you think of pallets and you don't think of lots of innovation, but there's a ton of new things going on with pallets out there.

So congrats to Mary and the whole Palette alliance team, folks.

You can learn more@tpai.com But Marina, beyond Mary, any other winners that you want to mention here on the buzz.

So like you said, once I start, I have to keep going.

And we have so many wonderful winners, we don't have enough time left.

Right.

So I just advise people to go to the website and look them up.

We have a wonderful, beautiful chart.

But, but Mary is one of our four overall winners.

And everybody asks, you know, four overall winners, how do you come up with them?

They're really just.

They're in four different categories.

Mary, one for our DEI pioneer category, which is a very special category to me just because especially in today's day and age, we all kind of need that focus on culture and sustainability.

And I met her when she attended our Women in Supply Chain forum last year.

So she's just a wonderful person in general.

But we base all of this on their nominations.

If you are submitting something and you give me five paragraphs of all the things that you've done, you're probably going to win.

But if you submit a nomination that says I'm the best in supply chain, probably not going to win.

So not everybody that submits something wins.

It is a very thorough vetting process that takes us internally about up to three weeks because I want to make sure that we are honoring the right people for their achievements.

It's just about kindness.

You know, I tell people, just be kind in the industry, just do great things.

But it has been a wonderful kind of way to kind of grow that audience and network.

And that's kind of how we created the women in Supply chain form.

The in person kind of stepping stone cousin of it.

Well, and we're going to talk about that in just a second.

I, I don't want to.

Tandra, I'd love to get you to respond to something here.

Imagine that an awards program that vets all the nominees.

Gosh, there should be a lot more of that.

And on top of that, to have over 400 submissions.

I heard you.

Right.

And to vet them all to make sure we arrive at folks that are really are doing big things out in industry.

Love that.

Tanjira, your thoughts?

I think, like I said, it's great.

It's great on so many levels.

And also the just idea generation, because when you sit in one of those award shows and you hear what people have done, you either say to yourself, I can do that or I've done that.

Maybe I should nominate myself.

So right.

Yes.

It's.

Love it.

That's.

That's perspective from a hall of Famer right there.

I love that.

I do too.

Folks, we're dropping the link right here in the chat.

I want to cover up.

Marina oh, okay, good.

You can find the whole list of winners right here.

And we're going to drop next the great event that's coming up that's been a terrific.

It's kind of gave birth to lots of origin stories of the winners and relationships and the whole nine yards.

Tell us about this big event coming up in November and that is the women in Supply Chain four.

Marina Tell us more.

Yes, I'm super excited.

We're in our fourth year.

We used to be in Atlanta but we have outgrown pretty much every facility venue in Atlanta.

So it's a good problem to have.

So now it's in Clearwater Beach.

We are about 53% ahead of registration than we were this time last year.

And it's a lot of repeat attendees who have come and they're now bringing one to two people from their company.

Last year we did have some college students who attended their professor kind of paid their way to come.

Nice.

They were so nervous and so shy and I said this is the best interview room you could be in.

And within six months of graduating they got jobs with people who were at that forum.

So what I love about it and the reason why I created it is because and it's not just for women.

We do have men.

We do have a male panel this year that was it's an all male panel coming on to talk about how we can partner together, how we can become allies together in promoting women in supply chain.

And we get a lot of these questions from men, like I want to be there, my boss is there, but I don't know how to help her.

So this is your opportunity to come to learn.

But the purpose of it was so that I could put a bunch of female competitors in a room and not talk about business at all.

And that is exactly what happens.

And so we created, it's called a Coffee and conversations networking session.

It was speed dating.

We did that last year.

Everybody was like, I wish I had more time this and that.

So we added a second session to it, Cocktails and Conversations.

So cocktails one day, coffee the next.

You can't beat it.

We have Supply Chain Jeopardy, which is just, it was a thing that we randomly created at a dinner, staff dinner.

And it ended up being such a hit.

And then when people walk in to register and pick up their badge, we partnered with Move for Hunger and you can create and put together a meal kit.

And so at the end we're all going to take those meal kits and ship them off to families in need in the Tampa Bay area.

So.

So there's just a lot of things going on.

We have wonderful sponsors.

I'm very excited to be partnering again with let's Talk Supply Chain and Manifest.

They are our media sponsors as well as our exclusive sponsors for the event.

So we're very excited about all of that.

But the agenda is on there.

We do have some fantastic speakers.

I could go on and talk about it forever.

Keynote speakers, fantastic.

I'm so excited.

So just a lot of wonderful people in the room sharing their journeys, their ideas and just kind of leaving their jobs at the door and coming together to really network and partner and learn.

I love that.

Folks, there's time to register.

It's two months away.

Got link right there in beautiful Clearwater, Florida, where you said it's perfect in November, right?

Perfect weather in November.

I mean, we've always had it in Atlanta.

Oh, that's right.

First year in Clearwater.

Yeah, first year in Florida.

And we do a survey at the very end and we do a lot of surveys being in the media.

This is the only survey that literally every attendee fills out.

But I love it because it helps me really build for the next year.

And so everybody's feedback was gotta get out of hell.

Like, no offense to Atlanta, but at night it's not safe for women.

We don't have much to do.

And so we tried to build it to a place where there was nightlife built in so they could keep their conversations going after the close of the show.

Taking a page out of a Napier Thrill down there.

Yeah, exactly.

Love it.

And it's at a wonderful resort, so you can't beat all of it.

Outstanding, folks.

November 18th through the 20th, right around the corner down in Clearwater, Florida.

And it is not an event to be missed.

So.

So check it out.

We'll drop a link right there in the chat and let us know we're going to try to make it, but let us know.

So I hope so, too.

Hey, as I said, I'm trying not to miss the event.

I'm talking about you can't miss it.

So I'm trying to practice what we preach.

Would love to have you there, Chris White.

Fantastic.

It is fantastic, right?

It's a lot of good stuff going on today on the Buzz, powered by EasyPost.

And by the way, drop your beer game link Chris in the comments.

I'd love to share that with folks and Brand Brandy from Dallas, Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth.

Brandi, great to see you.

Earlier or last week rather, to get my days confused.

Marina and Tandria.

Brandy's doing big things with the Reverse Logistics association, which is an incredible ecosystem.

It's the best ecosystem for all things reverse returns management.

And get this, Tandrea and Marina.

I was at a private leadership event last week in Dallas with Brandy and the gang and we heard from retailers talking all things Return and two key themes or one key theme was fraud.

It's amazing what bad actors doing when it comes to fraud in returns.

And secondly, folks, not just Ford supply chain logistics being impacted by tariffs.

Tariffs are being applied to all those returns.

And gosh, I need an abacus to handle the complexity when it comes to all the tariffs changing and changing and changing, going and coming.

Oh my gosh.

Okay, let's do this.

I got a question for you both, Marina and Tandria, as we start to wrap today's edition of the Buzz, powered by our friends at easypost Tangeri.

I'll start with you here.

How can what would be one piece of advice that you would suggest to all of our audience members out there so they can be better allies for female leaders out in industry?

Communicate.

Actually talk to people, especially women that are in the industry.

If you have interns in any of your businesses, talk to them about career aspirations.

Talk to them about how they feel they've been welcome.

Now, one of the studies showed that male students were given much more substantial and engaging work than female students.

Female students often were the ones tracking the progress of a project rather than actually driving the progress of a project.

Talk to the women in your areas about the environment.

Is the environment welcome?

Are there things that are being done and said unintentionally that make women feel excluded?

Are they invited to play golf on Saturdays?

Are they invited to go to the lake?

Are the assumptions just made that they don't want to do that?

There are times again in our industries and again, I'm from transportation, so there are a lot of areas that I was in that there were very few women and they often were not invited in and engaged to the level that made them feel like they were a valued member of the team.

Tandrea Billion Dollar Advice, the power of inclusivity.

And before folks, y' all write off, do this headline or that headline really investigate what it means to your colleagues and teammates.

Really, really important.

Good stuff there, Tandria.

Marina, what would be one of your.

Your big piece of advice?

So I also was going to say communicate.

Tandria said it wonderfully.

So I think the only thing I can say to piggyback on that is find the people that really don't know how to speak themselves and have a one on one with them and find out what they want.

Because when they don't speak up, it's not because they don't have ideas.

It's because they're just genetically made to not speak up.

Maybe they're just very introverted.

Maybe they're quiet, you know, you don't.

Maybe they're uncomfortable.

So find a way to kind of really get to them on a different personal level to figure out where they want to go and what they want to do and how they can be more included in the conversation so that they do feel comfortable.

Because, because especially with the younger generation, a lot of them come in, especially these younger females.

I was one of them.

You come in, you just don't know where your place is and you don't want to step over somebody's place.

And so I think it's important to have those communication lines open, that virtual door always open.

Well said, Marina.

And Tandria and I would just add to Marina's perspective.

If you want to find some of the smartest, savviest team members that really understand going and coming upstream, downstream, what's going on and find some eureka moments.

Find those quiet folks don't dominate meetings.

That would be the your best sources for ideas.

I promise you all this.

Quiet ones.

It really is.

And Brandy says, a great point.

Women can be overlooked for the outings that strengthen partnerships.

That's right, Brandi.

That is right.

I've heard of that often, often, often.

And hey, Chris White delivered, folks.

Y' all go check out beer.

Game on steroids.

If you want an engaging way, talk about supply chain concepts.

And Chris is terrific.

So y' all check that out.

Okay?

Speaking of pointing people, Tandra, really quick.

We're gonna have a fast and furious rap.

What was one of your favorite things from today's conversation with the one and only Marina Mayer?

The information shared about both the women at Supply Chain Awards and the Women's Supply Chain Forum is a place to get uplifted, educated, and connected.

And I think that's phenomenal.

Man, that's like a perfect voiceover right there.

Yeah.

I mean, hey, my job is done.

Yeah, seriously, great job.

Oh, man.

Well, Tandrea and Marina, what a terrific, terrific addition of the buzz here today.

So, Marina, let me ask you, how can folks drop the link.

Links to the awards?

We drop links to the forum.

But how can folks come connect with you, Marina?

They can find me on LinkedIn.

I'm not sure if you have that link or not.

I'm happy to share it.

They can find me on LinkedIn.

That's probably the best way to come and find me and hunt me down and I'll direct you into the right place that you need to be.

Outstanding.

Outstanding.

Drop right there.

Marina on LinkedIn.

Good stuff there.

And as T Square says, what we're talking about a second ago, a closed mouth won't get fed.

Asking, ask and state.

That is good advice there, man.

Everybody's on fire here today, folks.

You should also connect with and follow Tangeria Bellamy on LinkedIn.

I enjoy your leadership perspective all the time, Tandrea.

So let's thank everybody.

Marina Mayer with Food Logistics, Supply and Demand Chain Executive, Women in Supply Chain Forum, Women in Supply Chain Awards and Iron Markets.

Thanks so much for being here, Marina.

Thank you for having me.

You bet.

Tangeria Belt.

We'll have back you back soon I hope.

Tandria Bellamy, always a pleasure.

I always get smarter when I sit beside you for these these critical conversations with leaders on the move.

Thanks so much for being here today.

Thanks so much for having me.

It keeps me engaged and active and not only is it always fun, it's always educational.

So thank you.

I'm with you.

I got my 17 pages of notes today for sure.

Big thanks to Amanda and Trisha behind the scenes.

Really appreciate all that y' all do to facilitate and engage in these conversations here today.

Thanks to everyone that showed up.

I know we could hit everybody's comments comment.

Let's get you all connected.

We want to hear from you, want to hear your take on all these topics.

And I should say also big thanks to the team over at Easy Post for sponsoring the buzz throughout the month of September.

You can connect with them@easypost.com Most importantly, big thanks to our global audience, the smartest audience all global supply chain.

Really appreciate you being here and sharing your thoughts.

So folks, hope you enjoyed our show today.

Got homework.

You know you always do.

Take one thing from the brilliance we heard here from arena and Tandria.

Share it with your team.

Put it into practice.

Do something with it.

It's all about deeds, not words.

And with that said, on behalf the entire Supply Chain Now Team Scott Luton Challenge.

You do, do good.

Get forward.

Be the change that's needed.

We'll see you next time right back here on Supply Chain Now.

Thanks everybody.

Join the Supply Chain now community.

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